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Precision pointed out that a Taiwanese man has been named the first ever person to successfully beat World of Warcraft, getting all 986 achievements, completing 5906 quests and /hugging 11 players. Insert joke here. There are many.

I'm not sure why your short attention span is any more admirable. I might agree that this particular persons priorities are difficult to understand, but no more than most MIT applicants, or football stars, or that girl who has given head to over a dozen different guys by the time she was 15. Reasonable people assume "all things in moderation" is the correct way to live life, however there's really no proof that this is correct.

That's because once you see the string tied to the carrot on one end and the stick on the other, the carrot just doesn't seem as tasty. Playing a game with no "real" end in sight just doesn't seem rewarding to me.

The trick is to use it as a social tool. I have a lot of friends in WoW. Lately I've taken a bit of a break (okay I haven't touched it in 4 months), but I still hangout on the guild's forums and facebook to keep in touch ATM. When I'm ready and work clams down again I'll be running instances and such with them again.

Repetitive? Kinda. But honestly life is repetitive. Friday nights I typically go out to some bars with friends. We talk, maybe play some pool, and drink. Same thing almost every Friday. Saturdays we typically just hang out at someone's house. Talk, joke, drink. Sometimes watch a football game - as if that isn't repetitive. Line up in formation, throw or run ball until you run out of downs or score. Rinse and repeat for a few hours. This happens several times a week during the in-season and has done the same dance for decades now.

Thing is, the people who enjoy these activities generally don't go cross-eyed looking for some deeper meaning becuase they're fine acccepting that there is none - and there doesn't need to be. Just hanging out with people can be fun in and of itself. Whether you're kicked back watching a game with your buds or kicked back killing kobolds, you can still have fun.

And unfortunately the "sub games" are variations of "deliver item X to so-and-so" or "kill X amount of monster Z". Yawn.

It's the getting there that makes it fun, not the accomplishment. Last night we had a good run, and we're finally up to the last boss in Ulduar. It's not the highest and it's not the lowest, and the accomplishments were frosting on the cake. And nobody really cared all that much about the gear that dropped.

What did happen was the execution of a carefully planned approach using a refined strategy with a group of ten friends you can depend on to carry out the tactics well. It involved discussion, a couple of wipes, refined approach, then finally success against Thorim. That was hugely fun.

This is not simple carrot and stick. The win took a lot of thought, a lot of communication and some fairly fast and furious in-game action, a few close calls and some very close timing. If you see WoW as nothing but a level/achievement grind, then you're playing it wrong. It's all about the people you play with, not the counters, that make it fun. And an arbitrary challenge is still a challenge, isn't it? Otherwise you'd have to give up on all games and sports. What a dull life that would be.

is this the other 10% exception to what I was talking about? Because I get the feeling to get to that part, you are doing the carrot and stick the other 90% of the time.

Depends how much you play and how you play. If you limit your playing to the leveling part of the game and don't play much at level 80 (or the new top level when the expansion comes out), then yes, 90% of your time could be chasing that carrot. If you make it to level 80 then spend most of your time in instances raiding with friends tak

This I can agree with - not so much for disappearing from your team (which is a legitimate problem in and of itself), but also from an investment standpoint. My WoW characters have a TON of time and energy invested. I know the classes, I know the spells, I have good gear, and I've invested a lot of time in leveling them. Just going to another MMORPG feels like I'm ditching all that effort to start over somewhere else. I haven't even played WoW lately but the only other games I've been able to bring mysel

But seriously, check out his Feats of Strength. He may have "only" done this on one race / class combo, but he's pretty done everything a druid could / should do. Realm firsts on nearly every Wrath raid boss that gives a feat, high arena ranking last season (probably explains the tree off-spec), has Atiesh, and did holidays before holidays gave achievements. Impressive, if not insanely time consuming. (also - no

You DID look at his stats right? He respected his tree 223 times and obviously has duel spec.and every damn time he went into a raid he probability respected back. Humm.

The "Feats of Strength" are much more telling. It looks like he made this character at 10-23-2008. He must of gotten a refer a friend because he jumped up to 80 within that month AND "technically" completed the game by the end of that year. He also must have mutipul accounts. See all the "collectors edition" pets? He wanted his main

The "Feats of Strength" are much more telling. It looks like he made this character at 10-23-2008. He must of gotten a refer a friend because he jumped up to 80 within that month AND "technically" completed the game by the end of that year

The achievement system went live on 10/23/08, so anything he had accomplished prior to that date would have registered as completed then. Note the multiple world event achievements from 2007 in that list as well as Atiesh, which would have been impossible to complete in

To everyone who's about to make a "get a life" joke, may I remind you, you're about to post on a geek news website. While the level of dedications required to achieve this probably does mean this guy doesn't get out often, I'd wager that many of us here aren't all that different and could probably use lives of our own...

William Shatner: You know, before I answer any more questions there's something I wanted to say. Having received all your letters over the years, and I've spoken to many of you, and some of you have traveled... y'know... hundreds of miles to be here, I'd just like to say... GET A LIFE, will you people? I mean, for crying out loud, it's just a TV show! I mean, look at you, look at the way you're dressed! You've turned an enjoyable little job, that I did as a lark for a few years, into a COLOSSAL WASTE OF TIME!

[ a crowd of shocked and dismayed Trekkies.... ]

I mean, how old are you people? What have you done with yourselves?

[ to "Ears" ] You, you must be almost 30... have you ever kissed a girl?

[ "Ears" hangs his head ]

I didn't think so! There's a whole world out there! When I was your age, I didn't watch television! I LIVED! So... move out of your parent's basements! And get your own apartments and GROW THE HELL UP! I mean, it's just a TV show dammit, IT'S JUST A TV SHOW!

Sure, you probably don't have a lot of social butterflies on this site, but I'd wager that very few of them are really the reclusive shut-in that you would have to be to accomplish such a feat. There are levels of obsession with anything, and this guy's case seems pretty extreme by any measure. I can't even imagine the amount of time this sort of thing would take, and how many other things he could have been doing.

I don't want to sit around mocking this guy for this, but I do feel sorry for him. After

I can't even imagine the amount of time this sort of thing would take, and how many other things he could have been doing.I don't want to sit around mocking this guy for this, but I do feel sorry for him. After all, after his own personal sense of accomplishment over this feat has faded, he's going to be left looking back at all the time he spent on it, and the fact that he ultimately has nothing of any value to show for it. That can be very depressing.

The same can be said about every Olympic or World Champion in just about any sport. It might also be applied to people who spend every hour of every night for years building their own hot rod or ships in bottles or whatever.In fact it can be said about every living human being who choose to do something different from what you choose to do with your time. "They should get a life."Nobody else ever has anything to show for how they have spent their time that has any value to me. I was born, I know that I will die, what's inbetween is mine.

It might also be applied to people who spend every hour of every night for years building their own hot rod or ships in bottles or whatever.

You might even argue that it applies to people who work their whole lives to achieve fame and fortune. It's not uncommon for those people to neglect some of their personal relationships or have other parts of their lives suffer. Often enough, they end up losing their fortune to some degree or failing in other pursuits. Eventually, sooner or later, those people will die anyway, and it's not clear that they're better off in death than any of us. It's all pointless from a certain perspective.

So cheer up, all you WoW players. Your WoW-filled lives aren't any worse than a guy who has millions of dollars and bangs supermodels!

Okay, but I think far more people would find value in a handcrafted ship-in-a-bottle, or a hot rod built by hunting down the parts needed, taking the time to learn the engineering, and applying that into a working restoration of a vehicle. On top of that, these things also tend to carry value both socially and monetarily, as well as a sense of accomplishment that actually carries on past the "fading" point likely to be felt with the WoW accomplishment. Doing things like building a car or a house or spending months perfecting a masterpiece of oil and canvas open people up to more social exposure than, say, having some friends over to check out your paladin. You can drive your hot rod, take it to shows, hell even be a guest speaker in an auto-mechanics class. A composition of music could be enjoyed for hundreds of years by audiences you never imagined. Your WoW account, however, will likely not be heralded as a feat of great accomplishment outside of a small community of others seeking to achieve in even the modest task which is their charge: level up.

ahh but ther point you make assume I place the same value on those things as everyone else. If I choose to place value on other things, then your opinion is not valid in MY eyes.

Ships in a bottle are a waste of time, get a lifeSports are a waste of time, get a life.Making money is a waste of time, get a life.Going to bars to meet girls is a waste of time, get a lifeSex is a waste of time, get a life.

All of these are transient, as are all things. You can argue some have more value than others but that value is relative to the people involved. It is primarily a cultural and societal construct.

We can argue that pursuits which return goods or money may have more value for basic every day needs (food, water, shelter, etc) but that is not really what we are talking about here. You can also argue that even those have no real value in the long run. Same with sciene or art. In 20,000 years the Beatles wont matter.

How is an olympian served by the dogged pursuit of a gold mdeal in cross country skiing. Longer life...MAYBE. But in reality moderate excersise along with using the extra time to make $$ for your health care and housing in the future is probably better in that regard.

Simply put, do what YOU love, fuck the rest of the world. Most people are idiots anyways.

Which is useful in what way? If the goal is to acquire a ship in a bottle you can save your time and buy one already assembled.Clearly the point of making a ship in a bottle is the challenge of the task and enjoyment one derives through the process.The only real value of the resulting ship in a bottle is as a memento to remind you of the process you went through to make it.

Karma whoring at it's finest. Some of us run departments, play on Facebook, have successful marriages, fish on the weekends, visit with family regularly, and still have the time to hit slashdot, simply because it saves us time by consolidating tech news.

I know its fun for/.ers ourselves lonely losers, but in reality, most of the readers are likely quite successful in one way or another, or all the "your rights online" and quazi-political articles and such would be meaningless.

High Five brother. I beat a 2.5 year long WoWcrack addiction myself years ago. I still remember it like it was yesterday. Those long, back-knotted nights of failed Stratholme runs and epic fails. Noobs causing my blood pressure to rise exponentially in the Arathi Highlands....The cold chills of the 4 AM morning air nipping at my underwear-shod body, the only thing driving my spirit was the pipe dream of epic loots and bragging rights in Ironforge. Before Illidan. Before Arthas. Back when you knew how dedicated a WoW player was based on how high their fishing skill was....

*shudder*

I was one of the few ones lucky enough to turn away from that hell with my life still intact. I feel a bond with others I meet that were able to do the same. Stand strong my friend...relapse is easy.

I was one of the few ones lucky enough to turn away from that hell with my life still intact. I feel a bond with others I meet that were able to do the same. Stand strong my friend...relapse is easy.

Since it seems you're being serious, I'd like to respectfully disagree.

World of Warcraft is a social game played via the internet. The degree of 'hell' you endure is completely, totally, entirely a product of the choices YOU make. The degree of addiction you suffer attached to the game is likewise a product of YOUR OWN deficiencies. To lay all the blame of your unhappiness on this or any video game is completely irresponsible.

If you find dealing with random people on the internet to be unbearable, look into personality training. If you find internet games to be an addictive force that dominate your life, look into self-control/addiction support.

Meanwhile thank God you didn't accidentally wander into a casino or a crack house instead.

To be clear - I feel you've made the right choice, but I feel that placing the responsibility on the game itself undermines the millions of people who have not lost their lives to it.

I don't see where the parent was blaming the game. He said he beat the addiction and was glad to do so, and gave details on how strong the addiction could be.

How is that blaming the game?

If anything he owned up to it. It seems to me you're being very mean to person simply because he succumbed in the past to an addiction. There, but for the grace of God, go a lot of people. Having a predilection to weakness is called being human, and if you are going to bash someone who is willing to expose a weakness that he _overcame_ then perhaps you are the one who should seek personality training.

In the immortal words of Foghorn Leghorn, I say, I say, slow down there, boy! Do you have a bone to pick with the idea of addiction as a disease as opposed to a personal failing? It's a legitimate topic for debate, but the poster didn't make a statement one way or the other. Or are you a WoW fanboi leaping to its defense reflexively? Because the poster never really disparaged the game either, just his own experiences playing it.

I quit WoW several months ago, but I know for a fact there are achievements for "Server First Max Skill XXX" where XXX is some tradeskill.
I contend that is impossible for one player to become the server's first max skill leatherworker, blacksmith, alchemist, enchanter, and engineer (plus there's a few more) so there is no possible way he could attain "ALL" the achievements.

There are also certain items that you can no longer acquire, quests no longer doable, and until the next expansion, the old Honour system ranks. Essentially if you've started playing after a certain time you can't do certain things.

Likewise, in some world events, only 1 person can obtain the final quest reward (like opening the door to AQ).

There are lots of restrictions to the game that make it impossible for various players to do everything.

Ya know, MMOs have life cycles. They get born, they age, they eventually die. Eventually, the company running it will pull the plug. Be it because it's not profitable anymore to keep it running, or be it because they want to "convince" their players to come to their new MMO.

Yes, there's EQ and UO (and Meridian for you Great Old Ones), but face it, they're little more than hollow shadows of what they used to be.

Every MMO in its history met a terminal expansion. No, I don't mean the last one. I mean the one that kills the game. That convinces the players (at least those that still have a life) that it's just not worth it. DAoC managed it with Trials of Atlantis, SWG had its Jump to Lightspeed (aside of other troubles), eventually every maker of MMOs fucks something up and people leave.

I fear the day this happens in WoW. It will happen. Certainly not for the next year or two, and I'm quite sure that two or three expansions will still be in the fold for WoW. But eventually, the game mechanics will break apart (they're creaking already when you look at the wiring under the board).

And I quietly wonder what will happen to the WoW addicts that suddenly lose the last bits of meaning their life has...

I'm not so sure about that. EQ was a game that gamers played. They were used to shifting from one game to the next, EQ kept them playing longer than the average game because of the carrot-on-a-stick MMOs usually dangle before you. My guess is they knew that eventually this game will go just like every other game they played before did. Eventually.

WoW is very different in the respect that it's played by many people who did not play any other game before, at least not to the same extent. I even know people wh

Like American Auto, it's too big to fail. Very few MMOs to date have folded. AC2 and a few smaller ones but EQ is still strolling along. WoW, like EQ isn't a game, it is a setting, a mythology if you would.

WoW 1.0 may some day go offline but WoW 2.0 will be there. Nothing is preventing Verant from taking EQ1, rebuilding the game engine from the ground up and relaunching Everquest to a new generation. That is why certain toys are only advertised heavily every 21-25 years. Introduce it to a new generation. A

Well, there is EQ2. I don't know if it can be called a "fail", but it was anything but the huge success it should have been according to the logic you present here. EQ was a different generation of MMOs, and, bluntly, I think its success is owed largely to the fact that it was the first (well, the first that got big enough to attract more than a handful followers). EQ was hard and unforgiving. I doubt that it would attract too many people today.

When you look at EQ through the eyes of someone who has been playing WoW, you'd wonder why you could even possible consider playing it. It's confusing and difficult for someone who is used to a game like WoW where you get used to being led through pretty much any obstacle you might face. It's hard and unforgiving and you might lose your gear. You're highly dependent on the aid of others and you better have a good guild that doesn't mind staging a rescue party for your gear. People used to WoW would probably shake their head and wonder how you could possibly enjoy that.

Maybe some day someone will come along and present us a new kind of MMO where we will be looking at WoW and wonder how we could stomach the time sinks and tedium, the boring repetitiveness, etc.

So I doubt that a relaunch is the key to success. The formula does not work out anymore, it will not attract any players away from their current game.

I took that into account. And I'm not talking about the "average" WoW player. I know some people who play WoW. They still have a life. They go to raids once in a while, maybe once a week, unless something more interesting comes along. And most of the people that play WoW fall into this group.

What I fear for are the "hardcore" players. The ones that sunk their life into WoW, that raid 3-4 times a week and would rather miss their mother's furneral than the all important raid. Contrary to stereotypes and what

Better than it's ever been.... well, it sure is easier than it's ever been. It's now virtually impossible for a tank to lose aggro, no matter how much damage a DD lays on a mob (unless he's stupid, of course). CC is nonexistant because it's just way faster to mass bomb enemies, tanks can handle the damage and healers can easily compensate it. Skills that used to be "ohshit" buttons became part of the rotation due to decreased cooldowns.

It's also the reason why WoW isn't really a proper game: you can't lose. Everything you do is okay and nothing can go wrong. Sure you can be killed, but you just get the chance to try again or try something else without being set back at all.

This makes WoW more of a social platform wrapped in a virtual world than an actual game.

What value is gained for reading a book, watching a movie, listening to music or mounting a pretty painting on the wall? It's all entertainment. If he enjoyed doing it, that's all the gain *he* needs. Entertainment is an end unto itself. Fun and beauty ARE utility.

i'd rather do the other things i listed above than play WoW, but in the end, it's all fun and games.

"/played" time (that is, time spent actually logged in)? You would have to ask him; it's not a stat available to the general public, afaik.

Sidereal time?

1) While he has the "Swift Flight Form" Feat of Strength achievement, the datestamp on it is not that of when achievements were first noted. This feat was added April 14 2009, he got it April 23rd. This might not be an accurate measure, though, if the Taiwan servers were updated later than the US ones.